Modern Replicas of Ancient Swords

As always, my focus here as always is to identify the best value for
money 'brand name' replicas, as well as where to find them at the best
prices on the internet.

But unless we can get some idea of how the first ancient swords
evolved, what they actually looked like, and how they were used by the
early societies of the Egyptians,
Greeks, Celts and Romans - trying to determine the individual merits of a
particular replica is going to be an exercise in futility.

So here's a very brief overview...

Prehistoric Swords

The predecessors of the very first ancient swords were basically
pressure flaked flint and obsidian daggers - and let's be honest, we
aren't
going to find too many replicas of these for sale..

Later, came the first copper 'swords' of the Middle East and the
Mediterranean, which were again in effect nothing more than long
daggers.

It wasn't until copper was alloyed with tin - creating the first
bronze blades - that these ancient swords began to develop any real
length,
mostly as a result of new fighting techniques associated with mounted
warfare sometime in the 2nd millennium BC...

Unfortunately, there aren't any ready made production replicas of these particular ancient swords available in our price range.

BUT if you really want a replica of one of these ancient swords, I recommend a visit to
www.bronze-age-craft.com, Neil Burridges UK based website.

Neil holds regular ancient swords bronze casting courses, has
appeared on several TV documentaries and even sells a few bare blades
for around
GBP120 (approx USD$212) though you'll need to make up the handles yourself...

So it seems that the first production swords in our price range begin with the Ancient swords of the Egyptians.

Egyptian Swords (Khopesh)

The Egyptians actually made very little use of swords until the Iron
age, but even then preferred to use them only as a back-up weapon to
their bows, spears and axes.

The most notable exception was the Bronze Canaanite Sickle Sword, or
Khopesh, which traces its origins to Sumeria around the third millennium
BC.

While originally these ancient swords were used against the
Egyptians, they were so impressed by them that they adopted them as
their own and the Khopesh
eventually became the very symbol of Egyptian authority, with two such
swords even found in the tomb of the legendary Pharaoh/Mummy Tutankhamen
(c 1350 BC).

Unfortunately for us collectors, there are very few replicas of these
ancient swords on the market - and almost none of the functional ones
are in our price range -
except for a couple by Deepeeka of India.

Ancient Hellenic Swords

The Hoplite sword was the sidearm of the heavily armed Greek foot
soldier of the classical period - similar to the slightly shorter, more
durable swords
of their even more militant neighbors, the Spartans.

The ancient swords of the Greek Hoplites were made of roughly forged
steel, with a waist-ed, leaf shaped double edged blade around 24" long.
The tang of
these swords was a flat cross section of the hilt, bound on both sides
by bone or wood and then covered with a thin sheet of metal.

Like the Egyptians, the Greek Hoplite sword was more of a back up
weapon, with the leaf shaped blade used to slash and cut at their foes
once the primary
Hoplite spear had been broken, dropped or thrown.

Greek and Spartan Sword Reviews

"Spartan Lakonian"

Windlass Steelcrafts

Price Range: $130 to $145

OVERVIEW: Quite a historically accurate
replica, and extremely tough, well made and high quality - it is a MUST
for anyone who wants a real Spartan sword.

Early Celtic Swords

The ancient swords of the 'Barbarian' Celts (circa 700-600BC) were
essentially variants of Bronze age swords, only longer and heavier.

Most modern replicas of the ancient swords of the Celts tend to
concentrate on the classically styled anthropomorphic (meaning, man
shaped) hilt
of the original La Tene sword, yet combine it with an the earlier leaf
shaped blades...

Obviously, such designs are purely contemporary, and would cause
considerable confusion to a Celtic Cheiftan who happened to stumble upon
one deep in an ancient Druidic forest grove...!

The majority of these Celtic swords are wall hangers or poorly
constructed and very cheap 'functional' swords with thin tangs and
poorly forged blades.

However, there are a couple that - despite being only loosely
historically accurate ('historically inspired'?) there are at least a
couple worth looking at...

Celtic Sword Reviews

"Anthropomorphic Celtic Sword"

Generation 2

Price Range: $202-225

OVERVIEW: A simple design this somewhat heavy sword may look a little
contemporary but it is one of Generation 2's most effective
cutters.

Roman Swords

Believed to have been adopted by the Romans from Spanish Mercenaries during the first Punic War, the Roman Gladius
became the standard issue
infantry weapon of the Roman legions. As such, the Gladius was destined
to become the sword that conquered the world, and it saw service in the
Roman armies for at least 250 years.

Fully capable of piercing a mail shirt, the Gladius was a short,
double edged stabbing sword around 20-24" long and 2" wide with a grip
with four ridges to fit the fingers
and a characteristic bulbous pommel. While these ancient swords
themselves were typically quite simple, the wooden, leather covered
scabbards were anything but - with lavish
ornamentation and a distinctive 4 ring suspension system.

Despite the fact that there are more replicas of Roman swords than
any other ancient swords on the market, getting an accurate replica of a
Roman Gladius is no easy task.

If you ask Matthew Amt from his LARP (live action role playing) website
he'll tell you that
most modern production replicas simply don't cut the mustard and need a
fair amount of modification to bring them into line with the historical
originals.

Interestingly, Matthew also notes that "modern reproduction gladii
are generally made of better steel than their ancient counterparts, and
finished to a much more exacting degree."

Generally speaking, those in the know recommend that the best production Roman swords available on a budget that pay more than mere lip service to historical accuracy are produced by Deepeeka of India (pictured right).

While their swords are as far from perfect, they are the closest to
the originals of any production pieces, though tend to be rather poorly
balanced.

Windlass Steelcrafts also makes some reasonable facsimiles, such as
the earlier Mainz-Pattern Gladius and the later Pompeii Gladius. While
these swords may not be as close
to the originals as those produced by Deepeeka, they are on the whole
better balanced and made from higher quality, properly heat treated
steel.

Further Resources

I've already mentioned Matthew Amt's Roman LARP website but there are several others dedicated to Live Action
Role-playing from many different ancient eras to be found at the LARP hub homepage here including Matthew Amps other
Greek Hoplite Page and many more that are a great source for creating your own props, modifying swords and much, much more...

There are also several very good books that I suggest you read,
including my favourite which features a timeline of swords from ancient
times to the present
Swords and Hilt Weapons
by Michael D. Coe, et, al. I used this book when researching some of the
more obscure facts presented in this article and highly recommend it to
anyone with an interest in
swords, ancient and otherwise.